Vacation Village in Berkshires Hancock Massachusetts

I have heard from 23 Vacation Village owners. Vacation Village has a BBB rating of F https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/fort-lauderdale/profile/vacation-rentals/vacation-village-resorts-0633-4003645 VV (dm management) will only take the timeshare back if you have a documented medical or financial hardship. You don't have to have a medical hardship to sell your house. One member with an extremely debilitating hardship had to call in the special forces to be released. She eventually was. At first, despite being told to find a buyer for several years, was denied because she talked to Irene Parker, because "she says bad things about timeshare." This 80 year old Canadian owner with a debilitating medical condition provided correspondence from VV that their bad debt has increased from $5 million to $17 million. Resorts with a responsible exit remain vibrant, but those who want to hold grandma and grandpa hostage, not able to use just because of age-related concerns, not documented, need to go the way of 8 track tapes.

and that is where we left this ... We still get random notes and calls from probably anxious collection agencies .. I will continue to ignore them after my numerous attempts to VV explaining our stand .. We certainly made it "abundantly clear" of those choices ..

We are currently looking to release our VV Berkshires timeshare, and have been quoted $6,000 to just release the title and wash our hands of it, from a 3rd party agency. Yes, it absolutely sucks that we might pay 60% of the cost of the timeshare. Any advice on alternatives that don't involve suckering a friend or relative to take it? (We can't just default, need our credit rating, and my wife would blow a gasket if we ever got a call from a collection agency.)

You are probably throwing money away. Vacation Village will not allow anyone a release unless there is documented medical and financial hardship, and even then it is an uphill batter. Vacation Village charges $1,500 to take a deed back. There are also companies that do fraudulent transfers that Vacation Village will reject. This is a Facebook Group of Vacation Village owners in your situation. Join and post the name of the exit company. It is most likely a scam. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1309724916165817

Be careful of this advice ... after many phone calls, email, and notices, VV has made it abundantly clear that there is NO way out only for someone to deed to this on our own... our time share only cost $3500 which gave us two rooms, every three years for one week worst time of year. The irony was we were promised a very small maintenance; this has grown 4x ... we are retiring and moving out of the country.

I'm in the same situation as you Beverly. I just called, 2 people told me they don't do Deed Back but I can transfer the Deed to someone else. I told them VV and they said they don't take Deed backs, I said okay I'm donating it back. Still no............So Maintenance Fees are up, I'm okay with defaulting as long as there are no other legal actions. Let me know, has it been a year for you?

any updates? We just keep ignoring the calls ... got a few from different collection agencies ... I posted this on Ebay for a long time - for $1 ... to no avail!

Just an update - we flat out didn't pay our maintenance which has gone up substantially (going on 2 cycles) - we told them to rent out our week, they did not! We told them during covid, they should offer us some discount, they did not .. We were notified from several DIFFERENT credit agencies of our balance due plus fees... I hope they will eventually stop - we did co-sign on a mortgage for one of our children, and this came up! The mortgage agent laughed at this, and dismissed it as they have learned this is a common issue with elderly people who couldn't get rid of their time-shares and otherwise have a perfect credit history. Few years back, one of the monitors here told me to post an update if we just stop paying .. we tried everything else! Anyone have a success new story to share? If anyone still checks in here??

We have a one week, bad time of year, every three years .. so maintenance is due every 3 years - I think we are on our second cycle of not paying. Make them go away! I told them we are elderly and moving out of the country soon .. to no avail! any luck with you?

There is a Vacation Village Unfortunate Owners Facebook Group for people in the same boat. It says Massanutten but it's for any VV owner. They force people to default because they only accept medical/financial hardship and even that is an uphill battle. They charge $1,500 if they do take it back. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1309724916165817/

more than a year since your post - we continue to hear from a variety of collections agencies - we are elderly and have retired out of the country. We told VV years ago that we cannot afford the ever-increasing maintenance costs .. its a business .. I suggested they put us in forclosure .. we have no debt and no reason to have good credit at this stage of our lives ... have you made any progress?

To my knowledge Vacation Village has not changed their "find a buyer" response, but have allowed release if documented medical hardship that impairs travel. The fee is $1,500. There is a Vacation Village Support Facebook Group for those in your situation. Had it been known buyers would be held hostage, no one would have bought a timeshare from this company. It does help if you attempt to sell it on RedWeek to show that you attempted to sell. This is the link to the Facebook Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1309724916165817

Greetings, My family lives about 45 minutes from your timeshare, and we have had the pleasure of staying there several times as a "staycation". We are not in the position of wanting to buy a timeshare. However, if you are interested in making back some of your maintenance fees (assuming you still own the property) and want to offer an attractive fee for a use of your space during a weekend or so, please feel free to let me know. My son and his daughter would love a little nearby get away.

Thanks, and good luck with your situation.

Kathwardle@aol.com

I got the name of an attorney for closing from the resort. I can not find her name and information right now but she was reasonable in price and if I was able to sell it I would use her. I will keep looking through my papers. Ellen

ellenk162 wrote:

I got the name of an attorney for closing from the resort. I can not find her name and information right now but she was reasonable in price and if I was able to sell it I would use her. I will keep looking through my papers. Ellen

You don’t actually need an attorney to handle a simple timeshare sale and transfer, except perhaps in the state of South Carolina. Fwiw, there is an outfit in Georgia called LT Transfers that would handle it all for about $300 (slightly more if escrow of funds would also be required). Timeshare closings is all they do. You still have to find your own new "grantee", of course; LT Transfers only handles a transaction's deed preparation and recording. I’ve used them numerous times over the years — as both a buyer and as a seller in multiple timeshare transactions.

No attorney would handle the deed work involved in a timeshare transactin for less money. I am not advertising for LT Transfers (and I am not providing any contact information here). I am merely pointing out their existence and mentioning my own personal experience with their competency and reliability as an alternative to the (unnecessary and expensive) use of an attorney.